O'Brien on N.C. State's second scrimmage

RALEIGH -- The connection between N.C. State’s new quarterback and N.C. State’s largely new corps of receivers remains a work in progress, Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien said Saturday after the team’s second spring scrimmage.

“It’s still a process. They were better today,” O’Brien said. “The key is, are they going to be better on Tuesday? That’s what we have to do. We have to keep getting better at that. We can’t take a step backward at all. Hopefully they’ll look at this tape and get some confidence. I think we were in our spots a lot better, and that’s helped them to catch the ball when they’re where they’re supposed to be.”

Throwing into a howling wind, new starter Mike Glennon went 15-for-22 for 171 yards and an interception, while backup Tyler Brosius went 10-for-19 for 90 yards and an interception. Tobais Palmer had five catches for 58 yards, T.J. Graham had four catches for 78 yards and Taylor Gentry had four catches for 21 yards.

Rashard Smith returned one of the two interceptions for a touchdown in a scrimmage largely dominated by the defense. David Amerson had the other, while Markus Kuhn had 3 1/2 tackles for loss.

James Washington led the Wolfpack in rushing with 25 yards on eight carries.

N.C. State’s spring game is next Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.

“I think we made strides from the first (scrimmage),” O’Brien said. “The execution was much better. You could just sense that guys were a little more confidence in what they were doing, more physical than the first scrimmage, which comes about when they know where they’re going and what they’re doing. We still understand we have a long way to go, but we’re certainly better than we were last week.”

Other topics O’Brien addressed Saturday:

On the quarterbacks: “They went out there in 60 mph winds and the ball blowing all over, and we did a better job of catching the ball. Not as many drops. That was a good sign today.”

On Audie Cole’s transition to middle linebacker: “Similar to what we talked about. More comfortable. It’s his second scrimmage. He’s seeing things a little better. So he’s playing faster and that’s good. … He’s played on the perimeter all the time, and you see everything coming at you. You have an idea what’s coming at you. When you play in the box like this -- he played a little bit there his sophomore year, we started him there -- but things come at you a little faster and at a lot of different angles and get there a lot quicker, so you have to react faster and understand where they’re coming from, to make sure that you keep leverage.”

On the competition and depth at the cornerback position: “Those guys are competing. It’s good when you have depth and it’s good when you have guys that are fighting to get on the football field. We’ll take a look at things and see if we’re going to change things around. I don’t know if we will for the spring game, but we’ve been changing every day.”